Scoreboard error means Barnsley lose cup clash

Barnsley Cricket Club were controversially knocked out of the Yorkshire League Twenty20 Cup after the wrong target score was shown on the scoreboard for the second innings.

The Shaw Laners made 146 for seven batting first against hosts and local rivals Rotherham Town.

The two scorers, one from each club, agreed that score but accidentally put 145 on the scoreboard. Rotherham eventually reached 143 with one ball remaining and, believing the target to be 145, ran two off the final delivery to secure victory because they had conceded four wickets compared to Barnsley's seven.

The scorers eventually realised their mistake but the umpires ruled that it was not fair to take the win away from Rotherham because they had reached the total they had been chasing.

"It was bizarre situation and I've never known anything like it," said Barnsley captain Steven Nuttall.

"We scored more runs off the same number of balls but lost. "I think the blame has to go to the umpires. They are supposed to check that the score is right and they obviously didn't. Some members of our team felt very strongly that we should be going through but personally, while I was disappointed, I think we have to respect the umpires' decision and move on."

Roger Pugh, secretary of the Yorkshire League Umpires Association, said: "The umpires correctly ruled that the result would stand. The main reason for their decision was that this score had been accepted by both teams at the interval, and they had played accordingly. They also took into account the very small nature of the discrepancy, the number of wickets Rotherham had in hand at the end of the game and their opinion that, had Rotherham known they needed an extra run, they had adequate opportunity to score it."

Rotherham captain Nathan Smith, whose dad Pete is the scorer who made the error, said: "I asked my dad how he did it and he had no idea. It's strange. The scorers must have thought it was weird that we were all celebrating because they knew we had lost. Fair play to Barnsley for taking it on the chin and accepting it. Steven Nuttall and (coach) Mark Beardshall took it very well. A lot of other clubs wouldn't have."

Barnsley are no strangers to controversy in recent years. In the League Cup semi-final at Scarborough in 2012, the home team's bowler Daniel Evans ran in to bowl then ran out Shaw Laner Callum Millward at the non-striker's end. The town team appealed and Scarborough conceded the defeat. Last weekend, with the final of the Twenty20 Group C tournament to be played just a few hours later, Barnsley did not have time to get a case together.